Tissue sections or cellular monolayers are commonly examined by microscopic examination, for both research and clinical diagnostic purposes. Thin tissue sections or cellular preparations are commonly 1-10 microns thick, and are nearly transparent if untreated. In order to visualize various histologic features, a wide array of staining procedures have been developed over the years that highlight various cellular or extracellular components of the tissues. Histochemical stains, also commonly termed xe2x80x9cspecial stains,xe2x80x9d employ chemical reactions to color various chemical moieties. Immunohistochemical stains employ antibodies as probes to color specific proteins, commonly via enzymatic deposition of a colored precipitate. Each of these histochemical and immunohistochemical stains requires the addition and removal of reagents in a defined sequence for specific time periods, at defined temperatures. Therefore, a need arises for a slide stainer that can perform a diversity of stains simultaneously under computer control, as specified by the technologist.
An early slide stainer for immunohistochemistry was described by David Brigati M.D., U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,335. In that disclosure, microscope slides were closely apposed to each other, to form capillary gaps. The pairs of slides were mounted in a holder that could be moved about by a mechanical arm along three axes. If slides were to be heated, all of the slides were moved as a group into a humidified heated chamber. Therefore, random access capability is not possible with this design.
In another slide stainer by Rogers and Sullivan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,292, slides are mounted on a rotary carousel. Their invention heats the slides by passing a heated stream of air over the slides. All of the slides are heated to the same temperature.
Wooton, McLeod, and Read disclose another slide stainer that incorporates heat capability, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,029. In that invention, a steam chamber is provided to heat slides. The humidity in the steam chamber is designed to be just below 100 percent. If the slides are to be heated, they are placed into the chamber. Since the slides are either in or out of the chamber, all slides must be brought to the same heated temperature, a temperature approximately that of steam (100xc2x0 C.).
A recently described batch slide stainer commercialized by Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,595,707 by Copeland, et. al. In that disclosure, slides are placed on a rotary carousel that allows for the addition and flushing of reagents from the slide surface. Their slide stainer includes a heating chamber that is heated by the introduction of warm air. A temperature sensor is contained within the chamber for providing temperature feedback to a microprocessor. Similar to the other slide stainers described above, all slides must be brought to the same temperature.
This invention relates to an improved slide staining device, for the application and removal of reagents to biologic tissue sections mounted on microscope slides. The improvement relates to the random access capability of the slide stainer, i.e., one that performs any of a list of procedures to any of a plurality of biologic samples mounted on microscope slides. Since various procedures require heat at different times to enhance the rate of chemical reaction, a means has been developed to heat slides to different temperatures, independently of the temperatures of other slides. This invention allows for heating each slide to its own specified temperature.
Any of the previously-described systems could potentially be modified to duplicate their heater control systems to provide for multiple levels of heating control. For example, commercial thermal cyclers are now available that incorporate four different heating blocks that share the same microprocessor. However, the type of hard-wired temperature control mechanism that heats and cools four different blocks would be expensive and cumbersome as the number of independent samples increases. For example, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, forty-nine independent heating positions are described. If we assume that two wires provide power to the heater, and two wires provide temperature feedback from each heating sensor, then a total of 196 wires would need to be connected between the different heaters and the computer control circuitry. Placing all of these wires on a service loop between a stationary computer and a moving slide stainer presents yet another difficulty, increasing the cost of manufacture and servicing.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a moving plating, preferably a carousel, is adapted to support a plurality of microscope slides bearing biological samples. In particular, a plurality of flat heating stations are provided on the platform, each heating station supporting at least one microscope slide and, in a preferred embodiment, each heating surface supporting a single microscope slide. The heating stations are individually controlled to control temperatures to which the slides are heated.
According to another aspect of the invention, a plurality of heaters that can each heat at least one slide are associated with a moving platform that is adapted to support a plurality of microscope slides. Each heater includes a heating element set, each set having at least one heating element. A temperature controller electronic circuit mounted on the moving platform provides electrical power to the heating element such that each heating element set can be heated to a different temperature. A user interface mounted off of the moving platform specifies the desired temperatures for the microscope slides through a communication link with the temperature controller electronic circuit.
Preferably, the communication link is a group of wires, the number of wires being fewer than the number of heating elements. To that end, the temperature controller electronic circuit may include a shift register which receives control data from the user interface, multiple shift registers of plural controllers being daisy chained. Individual temperature sensors may also be provided to provide temperature feedback information to the temperature controller electronic circuit.